UPDATED: 2:12 PM, 2/6/15

We learned this morning that Anthem, the parent company of Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, was the target of what they are calling a "sophisticated cyberattack."

We’ll update these FAQs below as more information becomes available:

What is Freelancers Union doing?

We are closely monitoring the situation and we’re in direct and regular contact with Anthem. At this time, it is not clear if any of our members have been affected.

What happened in the attack?

According to Anthem, the attackers may have gained unauthorized access to names, birthdays, medical IDs/social security numbers, street addresses, email addresses and employment information, including income data. Anthem has no evidence that credit card or medical information have been compromised. If you were affected, Anthem will provide you with free credit monitoring and identity protection services. Anthem said it’s going to take about 10 to 14 days to figure out who was affected by a data breach and begin notifying you.

Was my information accessed?

Anthem is still working to determine the full extent of the attack. They believe it included all members of Anthem, of which Empire BlueCross BlueShield is a subsidiary. We will keep you updated as soon as we learn whether or not your data was accessed.

Affected members may include those currently enrolled in Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield insurance through Freelancers Union or those who previously had Freelancers Insurance Company coverage. We will let you know as soon as we have more details on the impact (if any) on our members.

What was compromised?

Anthem’s initial investigation indicates that the attack included names, dates of birth, member IDs, social security numbers, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and employment information.

Where can I find answers?

This post will be constantly updated with new information as we learn it.

For additional information about the attack, you can also:

• Go to www.anthemfacts.com for more information about the breach
• Read Anthem’s FAQs
• Or call the Anthem hotline at 1-877-263-7995

UPDATE:** **(from Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield press release) "New York residents who may have been impacted by the cyber attack against Anthem, should be aware of scam email campaigns targeting current and former Empire BlueCross BlueShield and Empire BlueCross members. These scams, designed to capture personal information (known as “phishing”) are designed to appear as if they are from Anthem, (Empire’s parent company), and the emails include a “click here” link for credit monitoring. These emails are NOT from Anthem or Empire.

• DO NOT click on any links in email.
• DO NOT reply to the email or reach out to the senders in any way.
• DO NOT supply any information on the website that may open
• DO NOT open any attachments that arrive with email.

Empire also is NOT calling members regarding the cyber attack and is not asking for credit card information or social security numbers over the phone.

This outreach is from scam artists who are trying to trick consumers into sharing personal data. There is no indication that the scam email campaigns are being conducted by those that committed the cyber attack, or that the information accessed in the attack is being used by the Empire will contact current and former members via mail delivered by the U.S. Postal Service about the cyber attack with specific information on how to enroll in credit monitoring.

For more guidance on recognizing scam email, please visit the FTC Website: http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0003-phishing. Additional information about the cyber attack against Anthem is available at www.AnthemFacts.com.